61 Working with the Events Service

The Events service provides calendars that you can use in Oracle WebCenter Portal: Spaces to schedule meetings, appointments, and any other type of occasion. A dedicated Events page is available to every space where the space moderator has enabled the Events service.

The Events service also enables you to view your own personal Microsoft Exchange calendar within the Home space. In addition, you can overlay space calendars on top of the Home space calendar, so that you can view your entire schedule in a single place.

Framework applications:

The Events service is also available in applications built using Oracle WebCenter Portal: Framework to provide access to users' personal calendars.

This chapter explores the features offered through the Events service. It contains the following sections:

This chapter is intended for Spaces users who want to use the Events service to schedule and track events. Users with a space role that includes the permissions Create, Edit, and Delete Events or Create Events (for event-related tasks), Edit Pages (to add the Events task flow to a page), and Edit Task Flows (to enable calendar overlays). For more information, see Section 52.2.1.2, "Understanding Permissions and Permission Models in a Space."

Note:

Tasks discussed in this chapter are not available if the Events service is not enabled in the current space.

61.1 What You Should Know About the Events Service

Events include appointments, meetings, presentations, and so on. Within Spaces, there are two kinds of events:

Personal events are those that are not related to a specific space. They could include personal appointments with a doctor or dentist, or lunch with a friend.

Personal events come from your Microsoft Exchange calendar and display only to you and only in Events task flows that are located on pages in the Home space.

Framework applications:

Personal events are also available in Framework applications.

Space events are those that are related to a specific space. They could include weekly meetings, presentations, or a customer visit.

Space events display to all members of the space on the space's dedicated Events page or in any Events task flow that is located on a page in the space. Members with the required level of permission can schedule or update events.

Framework applications:

Space events are not available in Framework applications.

Note:

If your application uses WebCenter Portal's default user roles, then the required permissions to create an event are included in both the participant and moderator roles. Participants and Moderators can manage all events.

61.1.1 Calendar Overlaying

In addition to displaying your personal events in the Events task flow in the Home space, you can also display space events from select spaces in the same task flows. This is referred to as calendar overlaying. In this way, you can have all your important events available in one location, the Home space, rather than having to go to multiple spaces to manage your daily schedule.

In a space, if you can create a page and add an Events task flow to it, you can also extend that task flow to display events from other spaces. This is useful if some spaces are very closely connected with similar membership lists.

Note:

Calendar overlaying is available only in Events task flows. A space's Events page displays events from the current space only.

61.1.2 Where to View Events

Your application may provide a variety of locations from which to view events.

Every space in which the Events service is enabled includes an Events page (a special page containing an Events task flow) that can be displayed or hidden. If you cannot see the Events page, it could be hidden.

If you have the appropriate permissions, you can add an Events task flow to any page in a space (Figure 61-1).

Figure 61-1 An Events Task Flow on a Space Page

You can also add the Events task flow to a page in the Home space. In the Home space, the task flow does not initially display the calendar of events. Instead it displays a link prompting you to Login to Personal Calendar (Figure 61-2).

If you do not have a Microsoft Exchange calendar, or do not want to display personal events, but still want to view space events in the Home space, enable calendar overlaying and then click Continue (Figure 61-3).

61.1.3 Integration with Other Services

Through its tight integration with the Links service, the Events service provides the opportunity to associate events with other Spaces items. Linking enables you to associate documents, notes, announcements, discussions, and URLs with an event. You can create links from an event by editing the event and clicking the Links icon. For more information, see Chapter 63, "Working with the Links Service."

You can subscribe to a space's events to receive notifications when events in the

61.2 Working with Events Service Task Flows

Meetings are a fact of life. The art is in keeping on top of all those meetings, making sure you can attend the ones that matter and keep abreast of what is going on.

The Events service provides two task flows for displaying personal and space events:

The Events task flow provides a fully featured calendar where as well as viewing events in a variety of layouts, you can also create and manage events and display events from multiple calendars.

The Events - Mini View task flow provides a more compact view of events as a list. You can view upcoming events and edit existing events. You cannot create new events in this task flow. This is useful if you want to provide information about events but do not have enough space on the page for a full calendar.

Note:

The steps in the following sections apply to both personal events and space events. Where there are any differences, these are noted.

61.2.1 Adding an Events Service Task Flow to a Page

The presence or location of the Events service task flows depends on how the Resource Catalog is configured. In the default Resource Catalog, the Events task flows are listed under Social and Communication.

61.2.2 Accessing Your Personal Events

You may maintain a calendar of personal events outside of Spaces that does not relate to specific spaces. If you use Microsoft Exchange 2003 or 2007 for this calendar, you can include your personal events in the Home space. This keeps all your calendar information in a single place, making it much easier for you to organize your day.

You can view personal events in the Home space. You can also edit or delete personal events or create new personal events that are pushed to your Exchange calendar.

Note:

You can use calendar overlaying to display space events alongside personal events in the Home space, but you cannot push space events into your Exchange calendar.

Before you can access your personal events in Spaces, your administrator must have created a connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server. For more information, see the "Managing the Events Service" chapter in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

To access your personal events:

In the Home space, locate the page where you want to add your personal events.

If you see the link Try Again instead of Login to Personal Calendar, there is a problem with the connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server. Contact your administrator.

Enter your Microsoft Exchange login credentials and click OK.

Figure 61-4 Personal Calendar

61.2.3 Viewing Events

You can view events as a grid or a list; choose to display events a day, a week, or a month at a time; filter events by category; select the range of hours displayed per day; and include a second time zone in the display.

61.2.3.1 Displaying the Events Page for a Space

In every space where the Events service is available, space events display on the Events page. However, the Events page may not display by default. If so, it is easy to display the Events page using the Manage Pages dialog.

Note:

The Home space does not have an Events page.

To display the Events page:

Go to the space where you want to display the Events page.

In the space administration settings, display the Pages page.

Tip:

The way you access this page depends on the page template in use. For example, in a side navigation template, you may access it through a Manage menu.

If you later decide that you no longer want to display the Events page, in the Pages page, deselect the Show Page checkbox for the Events page.

61.2.3.2 Using the Calendar Interface

You can use icons on the Events page or Events task flow toolbar to display events in grid form or as a list. When you display events as a grid, you can show them by day, week, or month. When you display events as a list, the number of upcoming events listed depends on the display options for the task flow.

Usually, in grid mode, the Events page or Events task flow displays events for the current day, week, or month. To view events for a specific point in time, you can use the previous or next icons or select a date so that the calendar displays events for a specific date.

Table 61-1 lists the different icons available in the Events page and Events task flow toolbar and describes what they do.

Note:

The following options are not available in the Events - Mini View task flow.

Table 61-1 Calendar Icons

Icon

Description

Click to display the previous day's, week's, month's, or set of events.

Click to display next day's, week's, month's, or set of events.

Click to display events for the current date (today).

Click to display events for a specific date.

In the date picker, the current date (today) is displayed in a box and the currently selected date (which may also be the current date), is highlighted. Use the date picker to select the month, year, and day.

Note: If the calendar overlay feature is enabled in Full mode for the task flow, the Date Picker is always visible to the left of the calendar.

61.2.3.3 Viewing Event Details

The Events page or Events task flow displays basic information about events. To view more information, such as the location, start and end times, priority, category, or links, simply hover your mouse over an event.

61.2.3.5.1 Setting the Calendar Start Time

In Day and Week view, the calendar grid is divided into hours. If vertical space for your calendar is limited, you can specify the earliest hour to display on the calendar grid to save space. If the space available is big enough to display hours from before the specified start time up until 11PM, it does so.

To set the calendar start time:

Go to the Events task flow or Events page where you want to set the calendar start time.

In the Display Preferences dialog (Figure 61-9), from the Start Time dropdown list, select the earliest hour to display on the grid.

Choose from 12AM to 11PM.

Click OK to save your changes.

61.2.3.5.2 Setting a Secondary Time Zone

In these days of distributed workforces, it is not unusual to be working in teams with members in different locations. When scheduling meetings, it is useful to know the hours most optimal to all invitees. To make this easier, you can specify a secondary time zone to see what time a meeting is in that time zone as well as your own.

When you hover your mouse over an event, the event details popup shows the time of the meeting in your time zone and in the secondary time zone (Figure 61-10).

The Create Event dialog opens (Figure 61-12). The fields in the Create Event dialog are slightly different depending on whether you are creating a personal event or a space event. These differences are pointed out later in this procedure.

Note:

You can also easily invoke the Create Event dialog in grid view by double-clicking an empty space or right-clicking an empty space and choosing Create. The advantage of this is that the date and time of the event are automatically specified in the dialog.

All day events can span multiple days. In Day and Week view mode, all day events are displayed in a separate area at the top of the calendar. In Month view, all day events are displayed surrounded by a block of color.

In the Start Time field enter a date and time to start the event.

Tip:

You can click the Select Date and Time icon and select a start time from the Date Picker, if you prefer.

For all day events, you specify the date only.

In the End Time field enter a date and time to finish the event.

Tip:

You can click the Select Date and Time icon and select an end time from the Date Picker, if you prefer.

For all day events, you specify the date only.

(Optional) From the Priority dropdown list, select a priority for the event: Highest, High, Normal, Low, or Lowest.

The priority of an event determines where it appears when events clash. An event with Highest priority is displayed first. The event priority is also displayed in the event popup when a user hovers the mouse over the event.

(Optional) From the Category dropdown list, select a category to classify this event.

Categories are useful for creating distinct groups of events, organized according to their general purpose.

The event category is displayed in the event popup when a user hovers the mouse over the event. You can display events in different categories in different colors.

(Optional) In the Details field, enter any additional details you want to include, up to a maximum of 4000 characters.

For example, you might want to describe the purpose of the meeting, provide a brief agenda, or indicate if attendees need to prepare anything for the meeting.

Note:

The details that you enter here are available only when editing the event, they do not display in the event popup when users hover over the event. You should not assume that all users will read these details. Important details about the meeting should be communicated in a different way, for example, through the meeting notification email or by using an announcement.

(Optional) Select Private if you do not want other users to be able to view your personal events.

If the Events task flow is included on page in the Home space that you have made available to other users, those users are not able to see the event.

In the Events task flow or Events page, you can also access the Edit Event dialog by right-clicking an event and choosing Edit, or by moving the mouse pointer (or using the Tab key) to highlight an event and pressing Enter.

You can also delete an event by hovering your mouse over the event and pressing the Delete key or, in the Edit Event dialog, by clicking Delete.

To delete an event from the Events - Mini View task flow, you must go through the Edit Event dialog.

Click Delete in the Delete Confirmation dialog.

The event is removed from the calendar.

61.2.7 Displaying Multiple Calendars in a Single Task Flow

Within Spaces, you may be a member of several spaces. Each of those spaces may have its own calendar of events. In addition to that, you may also have your own calendar where you track those events that concern only yourself. At the start of each day, it is not practical to have to view each of these calendars individually to determine your schedule for the day.

To solve this issue, the Events service enables you to view multiple calendars in a single Events task flow. This is called calendar overlaying. You can do this in the Home space so that you can also include your personal appointments. You can also overlay calendars in an Events task flow on a space page.

Note:

The events from each calendar are displayed in a different color to help identify the source of the event.

If you are overlaying calendars on a space page, category colors are used only for events from the current space. All events from overlaid calendars are displayed in the color defined for that calendar, regardless of their category.

For example, you might have a sales event that involves your Marketing, Sales, and Facilities departments. You want to create a calendar that includes events and tasks for all the departments so that each group has a clear picture of the overall plan.

To create the All Events calendar:

Create a space called All Events.

Add events to the calendars for the Marketing, Sales, and Facilities spaces.

Add the Events task flow to a page in the All Events space, overlaying the calendars from the Marketing, Sales, and Facilities spaces.

Note:

Calendar overlaying is available only in Events task flows. It is not available in Events - Mini View task flows or in the Events page.

Mini to use a compact view of the calendar overlay. This takes up less space on the page, but it might not be immediately obvious how to work with the overlays. Use this option if space is very limited on the page, or when your users have become familiar with calendar overlays and how to use them. Mini style is available only with Day and List view, not Week or Month.

Full to use a detailed calendar overlay. Use this option if space is not an issue on the page and to provide a richer user interface.

The Events task flow now includes an area to the left of the calendar where you can choose other calendars to display in the task flow.

If you selected the Full option for the Calendar Overlay Style, the calendar overlay area includes text as well as icons and also includes a date picker to help you easily move around your calendar (Figure 61-17).

Figure 61-17 Events Task Flow with Full Calendar Overlay Area

If you selected the Mini option for the Calendar Overlay Style, the calendar overlay area is much smaller, displaying icons only and no date picker (Figure 61-18).

Figure 61-18 Events Task Flow with Mini Calendar Overlay Area

Note:

If you have not yet set up and logged in to your personal calendar, click the Continue link to display the calendar in the task flow. For information about how to set up your personal calendar, see Section 61.2.2, "Accessing Your Personal Events."

61.2.7.2 Displaying Additional Calendars

When the calendar overlaying feature is enabled, users can display as many calendars as they want in the Events task flow. Each calendar's events are displayed in a different color to make it easier to distinguish which calendar it belongs to.

To display additional calendars:

Go to the Home space or the appropriate space and locate the page that contains the Events task flow.

In the calendar overlay area of the Events task flow, click the Add Calendar icon (Figure 61-19).

Figure 61-19 The Add Calendar Icon

In the Add Calendar dialog (Figure 61-20), select the space that provides the calendar that you want to display in the task flow.

You can select multiple spaces.

Figure 61-20 The Add Calendar Dialog

Click Add Calendar.

The calendar overlay area now includes the selected space and the calendar on the right includes events from that space. The events from each space are displayed in a different color.

Figure 61-21 The Events Task Flow Displaying Multiple Calendars

61.2.7.3 Editing Calendar Display Options

After adding a space's events to your calendar you can change various display options, including the order the calendar appears in the list and the color used to identify events from the calendar.

To edit calendar display options:

Go to the Home space or the appropriate space and locate the page that contains the Events task flow.

Click the arrow icon to the right of the space for which you want to edit display options. This displays the calendar overlay popup menu (Figure 61-22).

Figure 61-22 The Calendar Overlay Menu

From the popup menu, choose:

Visible to toggle the display of this space's events in the calendar.

You can also toggle the display of a space's events by clicking the space name (Full view only) or the colored square next to the space name.

Change display name to make the name in the list of spaces in Full view more meaningful to you than just the space name.

Remove Calendar to remove this space's calendar from the task flow.

Open Space to open the space associated with this calendar.

Move to Top/Move up/Move down/Move to Bottom to rearrange this space in the list.

The order in which the spaces are listed determines the order in which events are listed when events from multiple spaces occur in the same time slot. Events from the space at the top of the list are displayed first.

A color to change the color used for the events from this space.

61.2.8 Subscribing to Events

You can subscribe to receive notifications when events for a particular space are created, updated, or deleted.

When you subscribe to a space's events, whenever an event is created, updated, or deleted in that space, a notification is sent to you. If the client to which that notification is sent supports iMIP (for example, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Gmail, and so on), the notification email includes the ability to accept or decline the event, propose a new time for the event, and so on within the email.

The Child Components tab displays all of the components contained within the current component. It provides controls for rearranging, showing, and hiding child components. Not all components contain children. So this tab may be omitted. For more information, see Section 17.5.2.6, "Working with Child Components."

All properties on the Parameters and Display Options tabs provide access to an Expression Language (EL) editor, which you can use to select or specify a variable value instead of a constant value. Click the Edit icon next to a property field to open the editor. For more information about using the editor and for descriptions of common EL expressions, see Appendix B, "Expression Language Expressions."

Note:

Wherever you enter EL on the generic Display Options tab in the Component Properties dialog, the entry is automatically validated. If the EL is invalid, an error appears and the value is neither applied nor saved. Generic Display Options are those cataloged in Table 17-1.

EL validation is not performed on non-generic display options.

61.3.2 Events Task Flow Parameters

Table 61-2 describes the parameters that are unique to the Events task flow.

Table 61-2 Events Task Flow Parameters

Parameter

Description

Calendar Overlay Style

Whether calendar overlay is enabled. Valid values are:

Empty (default): No calendar overlay

None: No calendar overlay

Mini: Calendar overlay is enabled in Mini mode, which takes up less screen space

Full: Calendar overlay is enabled in Full mode

Calendar Style Class

The name of the custom style class you want to apply to the calendar component.

Customization ID

A unique identifier for event view customization.

Customization ID assists with maintaining the association of this task flow instance with its customization and personalization settings. This value is set automatically. Do not edit this value.

Default Current Date

The default current date on the calendar. Valid values are:

Empty (default): The current date (that is, today's date)

Any date using the format mm/dd/yyyy

Disable Personalize and Customize

A checkbox to determine whether users can personalize or customize the task flow. If not selected, users can personalize and customize the task flow.

Group Space

The name of the space that is the source of listed events.

Valid values are:

Empty: Task flow displays events for the current space (that is, the space in which it is placed)

Any space display name: Task flow displays events for the named space

The space display name is available on the General page in the space administration settings.

Maximum Calendars

The maximum number of calendars that a user can add to the task flow.

When the maximum is reached, the Add Calendar icon no longer appears in the task flow.

Default value: 20

Maximum Enabled Calendars

The maximum number of calendars that a user can display simultaneously.

This value must not be greater than the value specified for Maximum Calendars.

Default value: The same value as that specified for Maximum Calendars

61.3.3 Events - Mini View Task Flow Parameters

Table 61-2 describes the parameters that are unique to the Events - Mini View task flow.

Table 61-3 Events - Mini View Task Flow Parameters

Property

Description

Calendar Toolbox Layout

Custom calendar toolbox layout. The value is passed to the ADF calendar component as a toolboxLayout attribute.

Customization ID

A unique identifier for event view customization.

Customization ID assists with maintaining the association of this task flow instance with its customization and personalization settings. This value is set automatically. Do not edit this value.

Event Text Length

The maximum number of characters of the event title to display in Mini view.

Leave blank or enter 0 if you do not want the event title to be truncated.

Default value: 18

List Events in Number of Upcoming Days

The number of days for which to list upcoming events.

Default value: 30

Number of Events Per Page

The number of events to display at one time.

Default value: 5

Using ADF Calendar Component

A checkbox to select determine whether to use the ADF Calendar UI Component or a simple list with page flow.

Scripting on this page enhances content navigation, but does not change the content in any way.